#5. The Law of First Impressions (6)

Julian and Christian told their mother about what had happened in the East, adding a little embellishment as they went.

Christian, as always, brought a smile to the duchess's face with his characteristic easygoing wit.

Julian, usually so cynical, was now a son proudly boasting to his mother, chattering away in front of her.

Looking at her beloved son and his old friend, whom she had raised almost as if he were her own, Louise, Duchess of Valatier, wore a smile for the first time in a very long while.

But their happy mother-and-son moment did not last long.

At the sound of someone knocking at the door.

The door to the duchess's bedroom swung wide open without anyone even asking to come in.

“Young Duke Julian, His Majesty has ordered you to come to his study.”

The man who had flung the door open without its owner's permission delivered his message curtly, then slammed it shut again.

At that utterly emotionless voice, Julian bit his lower lip...